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I recently purchased a second hand Kawai MP4 which was still on OS 1.03, I downloaded the latest OS v2.12 because of all the benefits it offered, I followed the installation using Windows Media player bang on to the letter but the file transfer never completed before Media Player stopped playing and now my MP4 no longer boots up.

I'm still able to get it to go into Flash Programming mode and I retried using iMac and SysEx, the file transferred as per instructions but the MP4 still wont boot up.

Does anyone have an earlier version of the OS so I can try reflashing it back to to the original OS or at least a different one to the one I downloaded.

MF-Blues, I should be able to send you the original firmware, however I don't believe the updated firmware is actually the problem - it's just that the process used to transfer the update (via MIDI) is *very* fussy.

Perhaps you can clarify which version of Windows (and Windows Media Player) you are running? I gather that newer versions of Windows/Windows Media Player handle MIDI files a little differently to the 'classic' Media Player running on Windows XP.

Another suggestion would be to use the SMF player tool available from the Roland website:

Yes, I know, recommending a Roland program to update a Kawai instrument may sound a little strange, however it's essentially just a very basic MIDI player, which sends the SMF file directly to the instrument without stripping/adding information.

If you're still unable to transfer the updated firmware to your MP4 successfully, please let me know, and I'll request an older version from the MP development chaps.

Thank you so much the Roland software worked a treat, Hans from the Europe support center sent me a fresh copy of OS v2.12 & v2.10, I ran the software with the v2.12 it did exactly the same as the SysEx Librarian did but this time it worked.

I'm so happy right now, I new if I posted on here you'd be the guy to help.

Hi everybody,today, I tried to update my Kawai MP4 using my MacBookPro (OSX), a little program called "sys ex librarian) and the USB connection. I did every step -exactly- as laid out in the text that came with the new OS.Everything worked exactly as discribed, the Kawai's display showing the downloading progress in hex number and ultimately stating "end of file". So, absolutely everythng worked as descrbed but when I turned the MP4 off and on agan, the display got stuck with the top line illuminated with a row of squares. That's it.No sound, nothing.When I power up holding 6,7,8 the update process can be repeated but to the same result.Can anyone help me? Is the lates OS flawed? Can I return to a previous os that works?As stated, all along the process everything went 100% as described, but when I power up after updating the MP 4 obviously gets stuck in the boot up process.Thank you ever so much for your help.Martin

Any chance of trying the update using a friends PC with Windows and the Roland SMF program that KJ suggests? Reasoning being that although the update appears to go all the way through, possibly some extra unwanted data is being sent across.

While I'm sure it may be possible to update instrument firmwares via MIDI using a Mac, unfortunately I've never been successful. When this incident happened to MF-Blues last year, I tried various MIDI players on my little OS X netbook, connecting with both 'normal' USB and a Yamaha UX-16 USB-MIDI adaptor. My colleague (one of the MP developers) and I spent the best part of a morning trying different combinations under OS X - everything appeared to work fine, but upon completion the board we tested (actually an MP8, but the process is the same on the MP4) just wouldn't boot-up.

Eventually we admitted defeat, so reconnected with a Windows PC, and sent the SMF file using Media Player - it worked first time. As spanishbuddha notes, there's something about OS X or the SMF players available that either adds a few bytes to the beginning of the transfer, or omits a few bytes from the end.

I'm sorry I cannot be of greater assistance. I know it's horrible to have a 'stagnant' MP4, however I strongly believe it can be brought back to life if you're able to borrow a Windows laptop from a friend. Bootcamp or some virtualisation software may also work, however I don't have experience of this.

thank you very much indeed for your kind and very fast answer. Of course, getting a PC and update the MP4 that way isn't a problem. I m very grateful for your support as, without this information, I would never have figured out that a seemingly successful update didn't work.As a suggestion: why not including this piece of info in the pdf about the latest os?I'll post a little feedback once I managed to get a PC to update.

cmfrick, I'm thinking about using Wine (which is a 3rd party Windows compatibility layer usually used by Linux users that want to run Windows applications on Linux). You might be able to use it on MacOS X and try to run the SMF player KJ suggested. I suppose that since it is a very simple Windows application, it should run correctly and let you finish the update successfully.

See the MacOS X Wine Wiki page if you need more guidance. I have been using Wine on Linux for several years so I might be able to provide some support but unfortunately I do not own an Apple computer nor do I have ever tried to run Wine on one.

thank you very much for your comment. This indeed looks like a great solution. I am just afraid my computer skills are not good enough to get this to work. I am on an Intel Mac and the page says:"There are currently no official prebuilt Wine packages for Mac. Hopefully someone will volunteer to maintain a release so they will be added (see the Wine download page for most up-to-date links and additional information)."So, I reactivated my old winXP Laptop which didn't recognize the Kawai's USB/Midi. Next, I got my neighbors brand new Win7 laptop which recognized the USB/Midi but got stuck after 11% with the Kawai's Display not indicating anything else but "waiting".I have an old xp machine sitting somewhere which I'll try to reactivte.

I'm sorry to hear that. Building Wine (or most other applications for that matter) from source is not actually that hard but I understand it may look difficult if you are not familiar with the command line and the tools used in the process.

Hopefully some other Mac owner will chime in and will guide you through the whole thing, or in the ideal case will provide a binary package for you to install.

All,my office PC finally did the trick. Still on XP, the machine recognized the Kawai without any problems and updating with the smf uitlity worked flawlessly.

The only downside is, that my staff by now is entirely convinced that the boss went mad: carrying a huge, nmysterious heavy box upstairs only to return with the same box to his car with a very satisfied grin in his face 15mins later...

Thank you, James and Clayman, for your very friendly and helpful comments!

Sorry to post in an old topic but just signed up to say thanks to MF-Blues and Kawai James for saving my mp8

I tried to update the firmware with my mac and got the same issue with the screen flashing. Was very worried until i came across this post and using the SMF player tool on windows XP worked perfectly!!!